The Department of Greek and Latin at Catholic University offers B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. degrees, along with graduate-level language certificates that can also function as postbaccalaureate qualifications.

Our interests and those of our students are broad and wide-ranging, and we embrace a definition of the ancient world that extends back to the kingdoms of the Near East and forward to the Middle Ages. We study and teach Greek language and literature from Homer to late antiquity, and Latin from its earliest beginnings through the late medieval period.

Among our many strengths, we are especially proud of these:

The strong foundations we provide our students in the ancient languages. Our B.A., certificate, and M.A. students receive superior preparation for further study; our Ph.D. students polish their language skills and then become teachers themselves, taking advantage of the opportunity (for those who wish it) to teach their own lower-level classes in both languages during their time at Catholic University. During the summer, we offer specialized, intensive language programs that allow students to complete the first four semesters of Latin or Greek in a matter of weeks.

Our investment in launching our earlier students into graduate programs and all of our students into fulfilling careers. We provide careful, thoughtful advising to help our undergraduates craft minors in cognate areas that in turn strengthen their majors, to support our certificate students in their language development, and to assist our M.A. candidates in selecting coursework that will help prepare them for a Ph.D. We also mentor our students through the often-complex processes of applying for graduate schools, scholarships, and fellowships. For those interested in careers outside of classics, we promote the formation of strong, transferable skills like analysis, writing, and argumentation, and offer assistance in planning for internships and for entry into the professional world. Our alumni are pursuing careers in fields as diverse as law, exhibition management, library science, secondary-school teaching, public policy, technology and IT--and, of course, classics!

The diversity of our research interests. Our faculty members' work embraces (for example) the editing of medieval Latin texts, classical Greek history, Roman religion, early Christianity, and the rhetoric of cinema, to name just a few topics. We share a commitment to intellectual rigor--and to our students.

The special position of our own department and its programs within Catholic University. Catholic University's long tradition of linguistic, textual, philosophical, and theological research means that we enjoy the company of many other faculty and students in other schools, departments, and programs (Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies, History, Medieval and Byzantine Studies, Semitics, and Early Christian Studies, for example) who are interested in and invested in our discipline--as we are in theirs. We are pleased to highlight some affiliated faculty members in other programs who teach courses on Greek and Latin texts and on the history, philosophy, and theology of the ancient and medieval worlds.